Citizens United

I’ve previously reported on SB 1272 which was rushed through the legislature and allowed to become “law” without Governor Brown’s signature. The bill, authored by Senator Ted Lieu, calls for an advisory vote on whether the United States Congress and California Legislature should approve an amendment to the U.S. Constitution overturning the United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens Read more...

Last week, I wrote that Governor Brown had allowed SB 1272 to become law without his signature. To say that SB 1272 became law is an hyperbole because, as Governor Brown observed, the bill “has no legal effect whatsoever”. The bill, authored by Senator Ted Lieu, calls for an advisory vote on whether the United States Congress and California Legislature should approve an amendment Read more...

I recently wrote about SB 1272 (Lieu) which calls a special election for this November 4 at which California voters will be able to cast an advisory vote on whether the U.S. Constitution should be amended to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 130 S.Ct. 876 (2010). Last week, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. allowed SB 1272 Read more...

Although state law does not explicitly authorize advisory elections, the California legislature is poised to pass a bill calling a special election for this November for an advisory vote. SB 1272 (Lieu) would submit the following question to the voters: “Shall the Congress of the United States propose, and the California Legislature ratify, an amendment or amendments to the United Read more...

In January, I wrote about Senator Noreen Evans bill, SB 121, that would require any corporation (as defined) that has shareholders located in California and that makes a contribution or expenditure (as defined): to issue a report on the political expenditures of the corporation in the previous fiscal year, and to notify shareholders not less than 24 hours prior to Read more...

It’s been three years, but the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n, 558 US 50 (2010) continues to foment a fierce debate about corporate political spending. In February, Representative Adam Schiff of California introduced a resolution, H.J. Res. 31, to amend the Constitution as follows: Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to forbid Congress or the States from imposing Read more...

Yesterday, Broc Romanek noted the continuing interest in mandating disclosure of political spending by corporations. See Battle Lines Being Drawn: Political Spending Disclosures. We are also seeing activity here in California. Last week, Senator Noreen Evans introduced SB 121 to require any corporation that has shareholders located in California and that makes a contribution or expenditure (as defined): to issue a Read more...

In January, I wrote about Senator Noreen Evans’ introduction of a bill, SB 982, to require corporations to issue a report on planned political spending as well as expenditures for the previous fiscal year. Now, Assembly members Jared Huffman and Michael Allen have introduced a bill, AB 2050, that provides: No domestic corporation may, directly or indirectly, make any monetary or Read more...

At yesterday’s meeting, the Investment Committee of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) approved updates to its “Global Principles of Accountable Corporate Governance”. Among other changes, the update includes a new Principle 6.5 regarding charitable and political contributions. The genesis of this proposal was a June 1, 2011 letter from California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer asking that CalPERS “develop a formal corporate Read more...

The California legislature has reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010) by gutting and amending AB 919 (Nava). That bill started out life last year as a “spot” bill. A “spot” bill is a bill that makes a very inconsequential change to a statute and then is later amended. Read more...